Organization isn't a magic bullet
Photo by Jaclyn Baxter / Unsplash

Organization isn't a magic bullet

Organization might not be the solution you thought it was; nevertheless, we ought the organize our selves, our service, and our stuff as sanctification.

Most of us get the urge, at some point or another, to level up in our routines or organization. We get the nagging feeling that we should be doing this better, we should be organized, we should be on top of our circumstances.

Where does this feeling come from?

Why do we keep trying to get organized? Why do we feel like we've never arrived?

There have been times where I have decided that feeling that I should be organized or be put together or on top of life was simply a false expectation. I’d tried. I’d fail to meet my own expectations. So it was time to reject the urge to do better and just plod along. Who says I need to be any better? Who says getting organized is the answer to all my problems?

The truth is that being organized is not the answer to all our problems.

If we're honest with ourselves, too often we keep trying to get organized because we feel that if only we could do that, then the unexpected would never happen, then we'd never be unhappy, then we'd achieve perfection. But organization cannot do that for us. Being organized is a false hope for salvation or perfection.

Yet that doesn't mean it's not valuable or worth pursuing.

Why you should get organized

There is a way to improve our habits and abilities, to become more organized, without idolizing the outcome or thinking it will usher utopia into our lives.

We should still work toward better organization for three primary reasons:

1. We want to honor our commitments and responsibilities.

Being organized centers not on labeled shelves and matching containers, but on knowing our commitments and being prepared to follow through on them.

Our efforts toward better organization should be focused on faithfully fulfilling our commitments.

2. We want to be good stewards of our time, stuff, and energy.

Being organized is taking care of and making good use of our resources. We are given many gifts – abilities, energy, homes, family, community, opportunities – and we are called to make the best use of our time.

Organization is managing our resources to increase the good works we are available and able to accomplish.

3. We want to be available to serve more and better.

Because we are managing our resources and abilities and preparing ourselves for following through on our commitments, we are more open and available to serve our families and others as the needs arise.

When we know what's on our plate already and we know our calendar and our commitments, we can adjust and adapt on the fly as real life is thrown our way.

An organized life isn’t utopia

None of these are self-centered reasons. If we approach our attempts at organization from the mindset of wanting to serve others better rather than trying to make ourselves more perfect, we will fall into discouragement and frustration less.

We might want life to be like a box of chocolates, but in reality, it’s a lot more like laundry.

Follow me here, because I promise I’m not trying to depress you.

In fact, a great source of our frustration, despondency, and fussiness about our life at home is due to unrealistic expectations – false ideas about what it’s “supposed” to be like.

We usually think about goals, tasks, and success in terms of accomplishments – things that are done and done well.

So things that are done well and then undone feel like a tease, a problem, a cruel joke.

Maybe laundry itself feels like that sometimes. But, when it does, we can recognize the problem is not with the laundry, but with us.

Life and organization is like laundry

Wanting the laundry to be done once and for all is to want laundry to be some other thing than what it is. By its very nature it must be done regularly, over and over.

If we’re working hard with the goal of “finishing” laundry, then there is no hope. We can only be frustrated because laundry will always return, and that rather quickly.

Instead, laundry must be one of those things we just keep plugging away at. Sometimes there is more, sometimes there is less, sometimes we’re keeping up, and sometimes we aren’t. After we aren’t, it takes extra time to do some extra “catch up” loads until we get our groove and our laundry-generation rate aligned again.

Nor does the same laundry plan always work for us. The routines and habits that worked in the newly married state are not the same as those in the newborn phase which are not the same as those in the passel of children state. Perhaps there is farm dirt. Perhaps there is oil and mechanical grime. Perhaps there are many collared shirts to iron. The laundry to be done reflects and supports the rest of our lives.

That is how, through laundry, we can understand life better, can understand the nature of all the rest of our work at home for our families and for the maintenance of family life.

Those jeans come again through the laundering pile two days later not because something is wrong or because you didn’t clean them well enough before, but because life rolls ever on. The work to be done was done and now it’s time to clean up from it again.

Rejoice in the repetition

The same is true with dishes. The dirty plates and pots reflect a family who eats: a mundane, happy truth. There is no home routine magic that will make the dishes done once and for all.

If that’s the goal then it would be best to stop feeding others and eating. One of these goals is reasonable and the work associated with it good. The other is selfish and obviously wrongheaded, its means horrifying.

The same is true with dirty floors, with dust on the shelves, with fingerprints on the windows, with clutter on the counters.

We look for solutions that will make the problems go away when what we actually need are solutions that will keep us consistently, repetitively doing the work needed.

But just like the goal of the laundry is not to have all the laundry be complete, so the goal of any other housekeeping job is also not for it to be complete.

Just like the laundry, dishes, and dusting are ongoing work that we continue to do because they continue to accrue, so repentance is a life-long, continuous practice.

Too often we work to try to attain a certain state, to self-develop and self-help our way to “figure this out” so we can move forward.

Sure, learning and growing is a good thing, and practice does increase our skill, but we can’t postpone doing our duties until we’ve achieved some state where we feel ready and pulled together. That state feels like a moving, unachievable target because it is not because you’re doing it wrong.

As we continually clean up the mess in our home, we can learn that we also must continually clean up the mess in our hearts, which won’t be static and stay clean until Jesus returns. It’s the life we’ve been given to rejoice in, not a depressing drag. 

Repent. Rejoice. Repeat.

Your routines should fit your life.

This guide will help you set up housecleaning routines that work with your preferences, home, and schedule.

START WITH A BRAIN DUMP

Declutter your head. Organize your attitude.

You don't have to be overwhelmed. Use my free brain dump guide to declutter your head, then stay tuned for baby step tips on managing your home and family life well.

Written by

Mystie Winckler

Mystie Winckler

Mystie, homeschooling mom of 5, shares the life lessons she's learned and the grace she's received from Christ. She is author of Simplified Organization: Learn to Love What Must Be Done